Rating Qualities

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Power Mentoring
How Mentors and Protégés Get The Most Out of Their Relationships
Ellen Ensher and Susan Murphy | Jossey-Bass © 2005

To demonstrate how "power mentoring" works in practice, authors Ellen Ensher and Susan
Murphy provide down-to-earth interviews with about 50 pairs of high-powered mentors and their
protégés. The conversations offer useful nuggets of insight about office politics, job advancement
and successful networking. In addition, unlike many books on the topic, this one provides a useful
snapshot of the issues, dramas and special challenges women and minorities in the modern
workplace face - and the picture is not always pretty. The book’s biggest flaws are its redundancy
and use of boardroom clichés. Still, getAbstract recommends this personalized, practical book to
potential mentor-protégé teams.

Take-Aways
• The last two decades have radically altered the corporate landscape. To succeed in the current
environment, employees need new tools and "mentoring relationships."
• Mentors provide career advice and emotional assistance to their apprentices.
• "Power mentoring" yields perks for both mentor and protégé, including multiple levels of
exchange and high-quality teamwork.
• Move beyond familiar territory to find a mentor who can help you with your particular career
goals.
• The traditional one-on-one tutorial is just one of several training options.
• For a successful partnership, apply "emotional intelligence" and improve your listening skills.
• E-mail, text messages and other cyberspace tools can facilitate long-distance mentoring.
• Apprenticeships thrive on challenges, open communication and mutual respect.
• Demographic factors such as race, gender and age play only small roles in power mentoring
relationships.
• Assess the skills, talents and connections you can offer to a potential mentor.

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 Summary

"Power Mentoring" and "Traditional Mentoring"

In a traditional mentoring relationship, an established leader guides the career of an apprentice.

However, the changing work world, with its longer hours, increased job-hopping and greater
diversity, has rendered this old-school model obsolete. Traditionally, tutors select and nurture
protégés who are similar to them in terms of race, gender, education and economic background.
In contrast, power mentoring links networks of people. They may have different backgrounds but
their goals are compatible.

“Power mentoring is about networks and may involve having access to groups or even
an entire lineage of mentors rather than simply being in a dyadic relationship.”

Traditional mentoring and power mentoring differ in other ways as well:

• Unlike traditional "one-on-one" mentoring match-ups, power mentoring can involve a single
mentor who influences teams of protégés. This model creates a "lineage of mentors." For
example, former General Electric CEO Jack Welch created an entire galaxy of star protégés -
including current top executives at NBC, Tupperware, Scott Technologies and other leading
companies - who now have their own students.
• Knowledge and benefits flow in both directions. The tutor learns as much as the student does.
• The student often selects the teacher, rather than the other way around.
• Power mentoring challenges traditional teacher-student boundaries.

Paging Bill Gates

The pundits love to portray Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, as a go-it-alone man who dropped
out of the Ivy League and single-handedly conquered the computerized universe. Don’t believe
the hype. Bill Gates is a poster child for power mentoring. He was plugged into a mentoring circuit
- a network of high school teachers and an informal "computer club" of his high school friends.
Currently, Gates consults with such advisers as Warren Buffett, the billionaire investment guru,
and Steve Ballmer, the chief executive of Microsoft.

“Most of our interviewees did not rely on a single traditional mentor for support but
instead had a broad network consisting of a variety of mentors to support them.”

The traditional mentoring paired-off relationship still has many benefits, and it plays a role in the
new model. One-to-one tutorials can help with the following:

• Career counseling - Seasoned executives can offer valuable career advice.

• The balancing act - Mentors have juggled work/life conflicts.
• "Role models" - Mentors demonstrate etiquette, ethics and personnel management.

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 A Mentoring Challenge

Areceli Gonzalez, a Mexican-American Republican politician, witnessed corruption in her local

municipal government. She asked her mentor, former U.S. Treasurer Rosario Marin, also a
Mexican-American Republican, whether she should ignore the problem or become a whistle-
blower. Marin advised her to make the ethical choice, even though it might turn her into a political
pariah. That honorable advice and Gonzalez’ follow-up deepened their mutual trust. The Marin-
Gonzalez relationship also demonstrates "reciprocity." The high-powered Marin provided support,
advice and contacts to Gonzalez, a political novice. In return, Gonzalez offered her mentor a local
network that proved invaluable when Marin ran for Senate.

Ten Power-Mentoring Models

As you select among these ten models of a power-mentoring relationship, identify the format
and communication channels that work best for you, given your personality, ambitions and the
shifting demands of your workplace:

1. "Boss Mentor" - An executive offers professional and emotional assistance to a staff member.
The protégé may move from one boss mentor to another during the course of his or her career.
It’s something like serial monogamy.
2. "Reverse Mentor" - At IBM and General Electric, the younger generation provides fresh
insights and grass-roots reports to seasoned executives.
3. "E-mentor" - Using e-mail and text messaging, Linda Sandford, a senior executive at IBM,
a public speaker and an industry hall-of-fame inductee, mentors about 40 people. Online
mentoring has its pitfalls, including inappropriate disclosures, misunderstandings and
"flaming." But it can facilitate long-distance interactions.
4. "Group Mentoring" - Larry Carter, CFO at Cisco Systems, mentors small teams of employees
who exchange ideas at casual "Lunch with Larry" sessions. Paula Madison, president and
general manager of KNBC/Telemundo in Los Angeles, has a standing Saturday morning
session at Starbucks for protégés seeking weekly feedback. Madison also connects her protégés
with other mentors, including some of her former apprentices.
5. "Hired-gun Mentors" - Fee-based mentors include career counselors, life coaches and outside
consultants who provide advice on specific projects, goals or problems.
6. "Inspirational Mentors" - You can learn from afar. For example, Martin Luther King Jr.
inspired many achievers, including activist and former Congressman Ronald Dellums.
7. "All-in-the-Family Mentors" - Women and minority workers often credit family members who
acted as role models and provided sage advice.
8. "Barrier-Busting Mentors" - Opposites attract in the mentoring world. Professional allies who
have bonded despite barriers of race, politics, gender or competition include Congresswoman
Hilda Solis, a national Hispanic political figure, and California State Assembly member Judy

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 Chu, a local Chinese-American politician. Their ethnic differences and allegiance to different
constituencies occasionally test their relationship, but they have created a productive team.
9. "Peer Mentors" - Colleagues can act as mentors. Barbara Corday was a novice when she
collaborated with seasoned writer Barbara Avedon to create the award-winning police drama
Cagney and Lacey. They were colleagues at a nonprofit group when Corday pitched the idea
for the series. Avedon encouraged Corday to sign on as co-writer, launching her career. But be
wary; career envy sometimes spikes these relationships.
10. "Mentors of the Moment" - I-need-you-now mentors are experts, friends or executives with
the skills, advice or experience to get you through the crisis of the moment. These are the "one-
night stands" of professional links.

The Mentor Mindset

Top executives become mentors for various reasons, including corporate loyalty, social
consciousness, and personal or practical gain. While superficial similarities such as race,
class background, gender or age may provide the initial glue for mentoring relationships,
commonalities such as goals, personality quirks, attitudes and talents create lasting bonds.
Executive mentors won’t waste their time and energy on stubborn protégés who ignore hints and
suggestions. Anne Sweeney, president of Disney-ABC Television, says she values protégés who
listen and consider her advice.

“If you don’t look like those in the power structure, you might be at a disadvantage for
getting a traditional mentor.”

Mentors often choose protégés who have skills or insights that can enhance their worldview and
professional outlook. Some seek rising stars. For example, Bob Wright, the NBC chief, and Ron
Meyer, Universal Studios’ president and chief operating officer, target protégés with outstanding
reputations and performance records.

“Power mentoring places a greater emphasis on diversity than traditional mentoring has
done in the past.”

If you seek a protégé, raise your public profile by speaking at industry gatherings, or writing
a column for trade or general publications. Treat prospective protégés with respect. Establish
guidelines and evaluate your time and resources realistically.

The Protégé’s Outlook

In a 1984 study, Michael Zey outlined the traits of the "ideal protégé," including "intelligence,
ambition and willingness to take risks." In addition, to succeed in power mentoring, a protégé
needs:

• "Initiative."

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 • "Energy."
• "Trustworthiness."
• "Integrity."
• "High emotional intelligence."
• "Optimism."
• "Complementary skills."

“Being a mentor is not a purely altruistic act.”

If you’re a protégé, you are responsible for finding your power mentor. Connect through e-mail,
phone, industry meetings or formal, third-party introductions. Online mentoring programs can
be useful sources of inspiration. Cultivate relationships through trust, goal-setting and favorable
interactions. Follow these three rules:

1. Remain receptive - Don’t be a blank page, but stay open to feedback and advice.
2. Manage your career proactively - Protégés who have specific goals gain greater satisfaction
from mentoring relationships.
3. Inventory your strengths and weaknesses - Make your resume and your character as attractive
as possible to potential mentors.

Templates for Excellence

Once you’ve found a mentor, negotiate appropriate levels of "self-disclosure," and agree on a
comfortable pace for communication. Mentoring partners bond by phone and e-mail, over meals,
during business travel and through hobbies. Don’t rush the process.

“People with mentors make more money than those without mentors.”

Anthony Hayter, technical sales director at Crystal Voice Communications, met his mentor, Dixie
Garr, a vice president at Cisco Systems, when Garr spoke at a lecture organized by the National
Society of Black Engineers. The pair bonded during a coffee break, when they discovered their
shared work background at Texas Instruments. Garr invited Hayter and his wife to her home for
dinner. That social event took their mentoring relationship to the next level.

“An inspirational mentor is important in providing a protégé with a sense of identity,

purpose and vision.”

These eight tips can help you nurture a healthy mentoring relationship:

1. Make a good first impression - Develop your "emotional intelligence" and listening skill.
2. Express admiration and respect - These should be mutual.
3. Be open to input - Otherwise, what’s the point?
4. Cast aside your competitive streak - Mentoring is a cooperative enterprise.

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 5. Solve problems together - Avoid a "dysfunctional" mentoring partnership, in which the mentor
attempts to fix every issue for the protégé.
6. Make sure both parties are benefiting - Mentoring is a give-and-take relationship.
7. Understand and filter differences - Remove the communication barriers that age, race,
ethnicity or gender can create.
8. Know when to expand or leave the mentoring partnership - At a certain point, you may want to
include other people. If a mentoring relationship becomes exploitive, abusive or competitive,
leave it.

Finding a Mentor

Follow these guidelines to find a mentor:

1. Decide what type of mentor is best for you - Do you seek inspiration, practical tips on office
politics or job leads? Do you need an in-house corporate mentor, a "pragmatic" guru, a
"global citizen" or a master teacher? Network at industry meetings, and seek referrals and
introductions. List potential mentors and where you might find them. Visualize your mentor
and your interactions.
2. Review your talents, goals and areas of future development - Ask friends and co-workers to
evaluate your skills and shortcomings honestly. Recruit friends for role-playing sessions where
you can tape and evaluate your performance.

“As [former Congressman Ronald] Dellums put it, ’You should always prepare for your
replacement’.”

Meet and greet - Conduct informational interviews. Be animated, upbeat and polite. Send prompt
thank-you notes.

About the Authors

Ellen Ensher is associate professor of management at Loyola Marymount University in Los
Angeles. Susan Murphy is associate dean of the Henry R. Kravis Leadership Institute in
Claremont, California, and associate professor of psychology at Claremont McKenna College.

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